Media Answers - Media Training Company

Primarily Media Answers was formed to provide media training and awareness to businesses and individuals in the UK and for the first few years that's exactly what we did.

We discovered that our clients needed more than just training, they needed support and back up on a 24 hour basis in all aspects of media handling. We were also invited to many counties in central Europe and beyond to provide the same type of training in the client's country allowing Nationals and Ex pats to receive a constant training programme throughout the organisation. In the energy sector, many course participants have been trained in Aberdeen only to engage in a refresher session in Luanda!

Our experience in providing 24 hour media response has been invaluable when updating course content as we are more aware of company limitations when it comes to time scale, press statements and providing media spokespeople. The techniques we use work in many other situations including customer relations, general interviews, public meetings and presentations. The confidence that is gained from responding to sometimes hostile questions with a positive answer cannot be underestimated. Over the years, several of our clients have been involved in high profile incidents and yet kept their reputations intact by using the skills learned in a training environment.

Delivering courses outside the UK has shown us that the cultural and presentation differences between the broadcast and print media are immense.

There is far more control of the local media in Moscow and parts of the Middle East however, BBC World, CNN and Sky will approach the story from a completely different angle and this has to be clearly explained before engaging in any dialogue with the world's press.

Several trips to Africa have shown the value of training within the country of operation. One Lagos based client was a victim of hostile media intrusion during a pipeline leak and used the techniques learned during a week long training course to ensure that a positive company message came across despite the severity of the situation. Feedback received after our training courses in Equatorial Guinea included “Excellent use of four hours” and “Most valuable media training course to date”.

Media Answers prides itself on being totally committed to providing the most up to date training and every member of the team is actively involved in news gathering, journalism, broadcasting or television filming. This ensures that the training is relevant and fresh with the course constantly changing to suit media requirements. The crew for media training will include two trainers including one camera operator and, if required, can also undertake filming of facilities to provide your company with a ready made video news release (VNR) to offer to any broadcast media outlet in the event of an incident. This would appear as library footage and would make the company appear as pro-active rather than re-active after the event.

This footage could also be used for training, induction and safety DVD productions for use within the company if required.

Meet the Team

			Mike Bennett Founder and director of Media Answers limited with extensive experience in radio broadcasting, television filming and interviewing. Radio work includes news, sport and entertainment programmes with regular daily programmes for many UK radio stations. An early starter involved with hospital radio at the age of 14! Mike has a true understanding of the importance and value of a quick and accurate media response. He has presented everything from Drivetime to the weekend breakfast slot and still views radio as one of the best forms of media communication today.   Television work has included filming many of the major UK National and local news stories, producing and presenting sports programmes on terrestrial and satellite television and interviewing everyone from politicians to sports personalities and celebrities. Mike first became involved as a freelance at ITV Anglia in Norwich in 1988 and is still a press card holder for the same company today. With that level of experience in today's media, this course is at the cutting edge of the modern media and will demonstrate the techniques that work now - as opposed to what may have worked several years ago. All of this experience has proved more than useful when helping companies develop their media crisis management plans.
			Tracey Bennett Co-Founder of Media Answers Ltd and a full trained camera operator in her own right. Her pictures have been used by ITV, Anglia and Yorkshire TV and she has taken the main camera role on many sports productions shown on Motors TV via Sky Channel 413. A highly experienced role player in relative responders training, Tracey has written and devised our relative responders training programme used by our clients throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She is currently studying various forms of counselling to include trauma response and handling stress - very useful during a serious incident in both the relative support team and media responders room. Tracey has taken on the roll of creating the relevant scenarios for both the media training and relative support courses and has received praise from many companies for the quality of these exercises.
			Andre Sloos - Relative support Fully qualified Human Givens Psychotherapist and has worked as a counsellor for 'Off Centre' youth counselling service for 10 years. Andre has vast experience of working with individuals and families as well as working in school settings through his past careeer with Norfolk County Council as an Area Team Leader for the Youth Service and as a manager of an integrated team. His impressive list of qualifications includes Human Givens post graduate diploma,Certificates in counselling, advice and information and Solution Focussed Therapy. Andre is the latest relative support team member of Media Answers and his style of presentation has been very well received by our client.
			Brenda Bingham - Relative support Brenda has worked as a therapist for the last fifteen years after training with Relate in 1987 to 1989. She has worked with couples since then and is a senior  practitioner for the Youth Counselling service run by Norfolk County Council. She is working towards taking NHS referrals and runs training courses/gives talks on various aspects of the Human Givens for organisations and groups. Brenda worked on the original concept of the relative support training programme along with Tracey Bennett and has been an integral part of our relative support training team since 2007. She works with us on a regular basis assisting with updates review and relevant course content to ensure that each training session is 100% up to date
			John Francis -  Reporter and journalist John Francis is a former reporter and news anchor for both ITV and BBC Television, former radio news producer and newspaper reporter, now freelancing as a voiceover artist, scriptwriter and media consultant. We first started working with John at ITV Anglia back in the day and found him to be a thoroughly professional journalist with a keen eye for a story and fine attention to detail. His political knowledge gives him a real edge when engaging in hard news interviews and he is one of the most experienced members of the Media Answers exercise team
			Richard Jenner - Aviation consultant Richard worked for 25 years in local government, including 12 years as CEO of Kilmarnock Council in Ayrshire, before moving into the aviation industry as General Manager at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. This was followed by appointments as MD at both Humberside and Norwich Airports. He is now an independent consultant in the aviation sector and has 15+ years’ experience in the business.   Richard has a wide range of experience in general management and expertise in people management and team building skills, change management, public relations and marketing. He has  been directly responsible for the public face of the organisations he has led, making numerous appearances on live radio and TV. He has also had direct responsibility for emergency planning and response activities.   Richard led the introduction of training programmes at both Humberside and Norwich Airports, presenting to staff at all levels from induction to senior management. He regularly presented to Councillors, Board Directors, senior managers and representatives of the local community and business community as well as contributing at aviation and local government conferences both in the UK and abroad.
			Alison Shaw - 24 hour media support Aberdeen Alison Shaw is a media and PR professional with 35 years’ experience of covering major incidents, both as a reporter and as an emergency response consultant. She has worked in newspapers, television and radio and has extensive knowledge of Scots law, the legal system and the interface between companies and agencies, as well as personal contacts across the media.  As a result she understands the needs of both the corporate client and the media and has provided ER assistance for companies including major players in the aviation and energy industries.